A bad excuse of an article up on Sherdog.com about the IFL. Scott Holmes, the author, is citing facts he received from the IFL, which he states in his article. Sorry, but what kind of journalism is that? Just pick up the last 3 months worth of Wrestling Observers and see how the ratings on MyNetworkTV have taken a tail spin for the worst. Mr. Holmes never acknowledges the fact that IFL Battleground is being reduced to 1 hour. Which unlike what the article would have you believe, is a sign that the IFL is not impressing MyNetworkTV… Because what station would reduce airtime to a successful show?

Nor does the article mention that the average male age watching the IFL Battleground show is in their 40’s. Which is not a good thing for advertising. That is another point blatantly missed. But i guess when your entire source for an article is the CE of the company, they won’t want to mention that.

A few funny quotes from the article:

“It was a matter of spoon feeding the product, Otto says, and now MyNetworkTV is giving the IFL a bigger opportunity.”

By cutting their air time?

“Should the IFL find success showcasing fights on live television, someday the MMA league could follow in the footsteps of the NBA and NFL and have drafts broadcast live.”

How about mention the financial disaster that is the IFL before looking at a future that will likely not happen?

If he is the Sherdog IFL guy…. I heard him on the radio show like a month back. He mine as well be on the IFL payroll, because when that person talked, it was as if he fed his family due to money Gareb gave him. I know that isn’t the case, but he sure was biased.

The IFL ratings were going downhill before MNF started. Their over 40 male demographic has been a constant since the start of the show.

The fact is that the IFL has not connected with enough fans to stay on NetworkTV. Whether the show is live or not won’t matter much. Too many eyes have already seen the show…. Not liked what they have seen…. And then changed the channel. Being live is nice, but there are three major downfalls from it.

1. Doing live shows is extremely expensive.

2. The number of people who know about the IFL being a live show are either people who already watch it or the hardcore fans. And hardcore fans are not enough to sway huge rating numbers.

3. A TWO hour live show is good. They can have 4 to 5 fights without an issue. A ONE hour live show is an impossible format for the sport of MMA. Even if they start a fight within the first 90 seconds of the show, the most we will see is 3 fights. And that will feel like a rushed presentation.

Their big shot was the first IFL Battleground show. The ratings were good, but at least something to build off of. But that show was so horribly done, that they lost fans week after week. At this point, it is just too late. Even a live show won’t save them.

I like Monty Mosher’s claim that Lawlor “avoided” Hollett, like Mosher has any clue about anything fightsport related.

Nonetheless, I’m glad their replacement is still a stout wrestler. What is most important at this point is that Hollett get put on his back, and with this being a 25 minute fight, it’d be nice if we could see the fight go somewhere near the second half of the fight. I applaude the Titans and Hollett’s management for not getting too froggy after the Valimaki win, and trying to grab a UFC deal instantly. They have the right idea about how to develop a talent in Hollett, and we’ll see if it pays off.

Also, Leland Chapman actually fought MMA a few years ago against Lincoln Tyler, and get whupped on.

And while I’m all for the sheer inanity of the IFL Draft live on TV, 45 Huddle is (strangely) spot-on in his analysis.

I had a tentative offer to fight Hollet a while back… but it was only for like 1k-1k to fight the dude in Canada… and on short notice… and up a weight class. I don’t even remember what promotion it was.

I almost did it anyway, but I let my brain get in the way of my balls.

Crazy fight between Samuel Peter and Jameel McCline tonight. I can’t believe Peter regained control after being in that much trouble. As for the HBO show, the main event was disappointing but a couple of the undercard bouts made up for it.

The Barrera-Pacquiao undercard was actually pretty poor on paper but they made the most of it. Forbes didn’t get screwed again, Andrade’s caveman foolishness was painless and the Luevano fight wasn’t as terrible as I thought it would be.

The larger problem however is that Forbes is still that weight range’s gatekeeper and no more, Andrade is set for a career of fringe contention while guys like Kessler blow his brains out, and Luevano is a weak titlist in P4P an extremely talented weight range. John and Linares would probably cruise by him, and those are just the two top guys in the weight class right now. I’d like to see how he fares against an Enoki or Mashaba.